The Minimum Wage is at a 66-Year Low
While corporate profits reach record levels, the poor continue to bear the brunt of the economic hardship and get the blame
--
There are a litany of pernicious economic myths that we’ve internalized as citizens of the modern neoliberal world. For example, we’re led to believe if the mythical number GDP is going up, then everything is going smoothly, the economy is growing, and that means we’re all benefitting, so nothing should be changed.
We’ve also been propagandized to have an inverted view of the economy, where anything that helps workers or the people is said to somehow be negative while things that only benefit the top earners and corporations are inherently good.
That is why the minimum wage hasn’t moved in over a decade while corporate profits are at all-time highs. That is why child poverty is rising while we’re minting more billionaires than ever. And that is why we’ve recreated feudal levels of inequality, and even the current inflation crisis is routinely being blamed on the peasants having too much money sloshing around in their bank accounts.
It’s also one of the reasons America is so damn unstable. People are poor, desperate, and looking for answers.
There’s no real reason the country needs to be in this spot. It is not a force of nature; it’s greed. It’s been decades of decisions that turned the middle class into the working poor while a select few built emperor-levels of personal wealth.
So, right after turning the corner of a once-in-a-century pandemic, Americans are facing a once-in-a-century economic crisis.
All while the minimum wage is at a sixty-six-year low.
It is not a force of nature; it’s greed. It’s been decades of decisions that turned the middle class into the working poor while a select few built emperor-levels of personal wealth.
The minimum wage hasn’t moved since 2009. It was bumped up to a whopping $7.25, which, according to the Economic Policy Institue, in inflation-adjusted dollars is 27.4% less than it is today. Then, with…
